Meister der Farbe » fore and hasnt kept it. Im just praying

Its not difficult to pinpoint the teams that have unexpectedly prospered or just as stunningly plummeted halfway through the 2016 season.Yep, were looking at you, Carolina Panthers and Arizona Cardinals. Last January, you played for a spot in the Super Bowl. Right now, youre hanging with the mediocrities (or worse) of the NFL.Nor is it hard to spot the surprisingly successful teams putting themselves in the championship mix, from the Dallas Cowboys to the Oakland Raiders.But what about the individuals who are rising or flopping? The Associated Press sports writers who cover the 16 NFC teams suggest the following.ARIZONASurprise: CB Marcus Cooper. Having all kinds of problems at the cornerback spot opposite Patrick Peterson, they traded for Cooper, who intercepted two passes in his first start, returning one for a touchdown.Disappointment: WR Michael Floyd has struggled mightily in his contract year and fallen behind J.J. Nelson as the No. 2 receiver.ATLANTASurprise: LB Vic Beasley Jr. Whispers were that he was a draft bust, but the 2015 first-rounder has emerged with 7+ sacks.Disappointment: RB Devonta Freeman, last seasons breakout dual-threat star, has only one game with 100 yards rushing and only one with at least 50 yards receiving as Tevin Coleman has taken some of the workload.CAROLINASurprise: TE Greg Olsen has always been productive, but the 10-year veteran is in the midst of his best season with 45 receptions for 673 yards through eight games.Disappointment: DE Kony Ealy has one sack after getting three in the Super Bowl in February.CHICAGOSurprise: RB Jordan Howard, a fifth-round draft pick, has become the main man running the ball, averaging 5.1 yards a carry.Disappointment: WR Kevin White, who missed his 2015 rookie season with a left leg injury and is back on injured reserve with another leg problem.DALLASSurprise: QB Dak Prescott, no questions asked. The Cowboys could have been looking at a repeat of 2015 without Tony Romo, but the fourth-round pick stepped in and they are 7-1.Disappointment: Owner Jerry Jones taking so long to set aside his allegiance to Romo and accept Prescott as the starting QB.DETROITSurprise: QB Matthew Stafford, playing without star WR Calvin Johnson for the first time, has the highest passer rating in his eight-year career.Disappointment: DE Ziggy Ansah, coming off a 14+-sack season, has either been ineffective or injured this season.GREEN BAYSurprise: LB Nick Perry in his fifth season is finally living up to being a 2012 first-rounder. Slowed by various injuries, he came into the 2016 season healthy, and its paying off.Disappointment: RB Eddie Lacy, who looked trimmer after tweaking his training routine in the offseason, then wound up on injured reserve.LOS ANGELESSurprise: WR Kenny Britt, has resurrected his career after problems on and off the field, and has become a downfield threat.Disappointment: QB Jared Goff, the top overall draft pick, hasnt come close to getting on the field behind journeyman Case Keenum.MINNESOTASurprise: WR Cordarrelle Patterson was relegated to a kickoff return role for the past two years. Hes improved enough as a receiver to factor in as a complementary pass catcher, also excels as the outside coverage man on the punt team.Disappointment: LG Alex Boone, although the entire offensive line ought to qualify for this dishonor. Boone was the big-money addition to a group that needed a boost, but the Vikings have been struggling badly up front.NEW ORLEANSSurprise: LB Craig Robertson came in unheralded as a likely backup to James Laurinaitis or 2015 first-rounder Stephone Anthony. Instead hes starting and reliable.Disappointment: RB Mark Ingram had no 100-yard games thru seven weeks, but produced a 158-yard outing Sunday. Still, he has been turnover prone and not the factor New Orleans expects.NEW YORK GIANTSSurprise: S Landon Collins, the second-round draft pick in 2015, has been the best player on the team after struggling as a rookie.Disappointment: The entire offense, which has added WRs Victor Cruz, back from injury, and rookie Sterling Shepard. It was one of the best in the league last season.PHILADELPHIASurprise: Rookie Carson Wentz was elevated from No. 3 QB to starter eight days before the season opener after only playing part of the first preseason game. He led the Eagles to a 3-0 record, and hes played well despite four losses in five games since.Disappointment: WR Nelson Agholor, a first-round pick in 2015, is moving closer toward being a bust with each unproductive game.SAN FRANCISCOSurprise: WR Jeremy Kerley, picked up in a trade from Detroit just before the start of the season, leads the team as a pass catcher.Disappointment: On the contrary, WR Torrey Smith, San Franciscos big free-agent acquisition in 2015, has had little impact and has struggled to get open consistently.SEATTLESurprise: C Justin Britt started his career as a right tackle, moved to left guard and this season took over at center.Disappointment: RBs Thomas Rawls and Christine Michael. Seattles once-vaunted run game is broken. Rawls had a breakout 2015 before he broke his ankle, and has been injury prone this season. Michael has shown flashes, but not enough consistency.TAMPA BAYSurprise: RB Jacquizz Rodgers, who had career-best performances filling in for injured Doug Martin until Rodgers himself got hurt.Disappointment: K Roberto Aguayo, for whom the Bucs traded up in the second round, saying he was the best kicker in college football history. Hes been inconsistent at best.WASHINGTONSurprise: OLB Trent Murphy looked likely to be a backup DE, but Junior Galette tore his Achilles tendon. Murphy molded himself into a pass-rushing LB and hes been terrific.Disappointment: WR Josh Doctson, a first-round pick, was practically invisible, played in only two games, and eventually went on IR.---For more NFL coverage: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP-NFL Custom Greg Maddux Jersey . Didier Drogba gave away the penalty that put Senegal one goal away from a major upset, but the veteran striker will get another chance -- probably his last -- at the World Cup after Salomon Kalous injury-time strike sealed the Ivorians place in Brazil next year. Custom Dale Murphy Jersey . JOHNS, N. http://www.custombravesjersey.com/custom-bobby-cox-jersey-large-137z.html . -- Mike Smith never saw his first NHL goal go in. John Smoltz Jersey Large . LOUIS -- Heading into the final stretch of the season, the issues for the Chicago Bears banged-up defence only seem to be getting worse. Wholesale Custom Braves Shirts . Dallas hasnt ruled out the star quarterback for Sunday nights game against Philadelphia, but all signs point to Romos back injury pushing Kyle Orton into the starting role after two years of limited play as the backup. Surely Ortons name isnt the first that comes to mind for fans wanting a change after years of damaging interceptions, fumbles or, most infamously, the field goal flub when Romo dropped the snap on a kick that could have won his first playoff game in 2006. RIO DE JANEIRO -- Those stars and stripes get her every time.Any time I talk about representing my country, and what it would mean to hold the medal for our country and hear our national anthem ... Im just so proud to be an American and I think our country is the best, U.S. golfer Gerena Piller said after the first round of the Olympic womens golf tournament Wednesday.Piller finished the day at 2-under 69 and in an eight-way tie for 11th, 4 strokes behind the leader Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand and sandwiched between Americans Lexi Thompson (3-under 68, tied for seventh) and Stacy Lewis (1-under 70 and tied for 19th).Piller, 31, had six birdies -- including a run on holes 9, 10 and 11, and another to finish at 18 -- to offset four bogeys. Ranked 28th at the start of the year with five U.S. golfers between her and a top 15 finish and spot on the Olympic team, it did not seem particularly likely that she would even be in Rio.In the end, nine-hundreths of a point separated her 15th ranking from the next golfer, secured by Pillers eighth-place finish that week in Julys U.S. Womens Open.To squeak in at the end, thats pretty cool, she said. And it wasnt like I finished 40th. I top-10d in the U.S. Open. So thats an accomplishment in itself.That achievement and the prospect that she might be standing on the medal podium Saturday, brought Piller to tears in a Tuesday team media conference.Growing up, thats not something that was ever in my mind, she said as she covered her eyes.For her mother Rita Stevenson, who walked the course Wednesday, it was difficult speaking of her daughters accomplishment without also tearing up.Gerina is my idol, shes my hero, Rita said. She has taken it to the next level. She had the opportunity and Im so proud of her.An elementary school P.E. teacher, Stevenson said she gives the same speech to her students every four years.Ive been doing this for 10 years and every times the Olympics come around, it just moves me, and I tell my kids at school, You know what, guys, you can be an Olympian. All you have to do is have a dream and put it in your heart, and it can happen. You just have to work hard and yes, its not going to be easy, but you can do it. And then ...And then she pauses, said Piller, and is like, Wow, my daughter is an Olympian. Its pretty cool to hear her say that.An all-around athlete growing up in Roswell, New Mexico, Piller played basketball, soccer, volleyball and Little League baseball because she didnt find softball competitive enough. She didnt take up golf until she was 15.Her stepfather, Alan Stevenson, whom Piller calls Dad, talked about hearing of some 200 womens golf scholarships that went unused for smaller schools.I said to Rita, This is an opportunity, something we may want to think about, said Alan Stevenson, who is also in Rio this week. Rita was a new teacher and I was a rookie police officer and we talked about it as maybe a way for her to go to school someday.He laughed about taking her to play nine holes with her brother Michael and Gerina shooting a 72.Some days later, she said, Dad, Im pretty good at golf. And I said, Yeah, youre OK. And she said, Well, I shot a 72 and those guys are shooting a 72 on TV, and I said, Yes Gerina, but you did it in nine holes. She fell in love with the challenge, her parents saiid.ddddddddddddBut more than that was the motivation that has driven her to consistently improve throughout her nine-year career.It comes from her early childhood and the sacrifices her mother made when she was a single mother raising our three oldest kids, Alan Stevenson said. Thats the foundation for Gerina -- where she came from -- that gave her the strength and character, the courage to go do stuff a lot of people may not have ever thought of doing.Its significant to her because she doesnt take for granted people who sacrificed their lives to protect us and our freedoms. She gets that. She gets it to her heart and to her core.Brian Dilley, Pillers caddie of the past year and a half, called Gerina one of the most patriotic people Ive ever been around and she lets it show whenever shes wearing the stars and stripes.Pillers latest and most notable accomplishment playing for her country came in September, when her 8-foot putt proved pivotal in the U.S. comeback victory in the Solheim Cup.It means more to her than anything to be an American and represent her country, her mother said.At 11, Piller recalled watching the 96 Olympics and the womens gymnastics team, the Magnificent Seven, that won the first gold for the U.S. in team competition. She rattled off the names of each team member.Shannon Miller, Dominique Moceanu, Dominique Dawes, Kerri Strug being carried off by Bela Karolyi, she said. Obviously I thought that would be pretty awesome to be in the Olympics, but its gymnastics. I cant even touch my toes, so that dream kind of went out the window ...I never thought I would be standing here giving an interview about being in the Olympics. Its just a dream come true.Married to PGA Tour golfer Martin Piller -- the only husband-wife combo on their respective tours -- Gerinas thoughts are also with her husband this week as he fights to keep his PGA Tour card at the Wyndham Championship, the final regular-season event in which to qualify for the FedEx Cup playoffs.I know I would love to be there supporting him, Piller said. I know he would love to be here. I think Im more concerned with me not being there for him because its a big week for him and hes had his card before and hasnt kept it. Im just praying that he has a good week and hes just content with whatever comes at him and he just plays to his best ability. If he does that, I think the good results will come.As for Piller, she has eight top-10 finishes this year, tied for sixth on tour, but hasnt broken through for that first career victory.I dont think there are any limits for her, said Dilley, a longtime caddie on the LPGA Tour. Its all between her ears and shes just gaining confidence. She knows she should be in that last group, she knows she should win tournaments. Before, it was I just want to get a top-10 or a top-15 or be in contention but now she knows she belongs in that last group every Sunday. And its only a matter of time.If the time should come this week, dont expect Piller to be dry-eyed.I couldnt be more proud and more blessed to be an American, she said. So any time that I can represent our country and succeed and stand on the podium, it just gets me every time. ' ' '